What are You Really Paying for the iPhone 6? A Breakdown of Carrier Costs.

With the release of the new Apple iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, many customers still under recent contracts find themselves in a bit of an odd situation. Often the prices of purchasing a new devices are a bit, shall we say, astronomical. The standard iPhone 6 16GB version retails at full price for $649 and topping out at $849 for the 128GB version. The 6 Plus adds another $100 to each of its versions, due apparently to the larger screen and slightly better camera than its smaller counterpart. This means, to buy the iPhone 6 Plus 128GB version, you would have to shell out $949, which will easily put you over the $1000 mark after taxes and any of the almost required accessories that go with the device.

A grand. Sure, it’s an amazing device and can do so many things. People often can, and do, center their daily lives on the devices they carry in their pockets. And sure, Apple arguably creates the most stable and powerful mobile technology you can find, even if some of their innovation is slightly behind the curve compared to Android-based technology. You are paying for a premium and most people are quite happy with their devices and even, as some have put it, quite fanatical. But to some, that price point is simply not something that can be justified. A thousand dollars can easily buy you quite the powerful laptop or Android-based tablet. Not to say that Android phones don’t get incredibly expensive, it’s just the fervor surrounding the release of new iPhones often reaches wild heights.

So knowing this, many of the major carriers are offering trade-in programs for older model iPhones to cut some of the cost of the newest device. Advertising places the iPhone 6 at $199 and the 6 Plus at $299. Let’s see where those prices actually exist.

On any carrier, with a new 2-year contract, you can get the iPhone 6 ranging from $199 to $399 and the iPhone 6 Plus from $299 to $499. There are, however, other options.

Verizon, like many carriers, is pushing monthly installments on their phones through their Verizon Edge program, which would add anywhere from $37.50 to $47.50 to your basic bill each month with no money down. This includes a zero dollar down payment and a required commitment of two years, like most contracts. However, after a portion of the payment is made, you can trade in your new device towards a new device on that carrier and just continue your payment. This is basically the same across all the major carriers.

ATT is, depending on contracting length, ranging their prices from $27.09 to $47.50 on the ATT Next program. Sprint’s iPhone for Life promotion ranges from $20 to $35 dollars for a 24 month term.

T-Mobile is the origin for this new method of payment due to the company not signing customers to new contracts and instead deferring the price of new devices onto the bills. Ranging from $27.08 to $31.25, T-Mobile is the only carrier that requires a down payment up front for certain devices, ranging from $0 to $199.